On Monday, Truthdig launched a new initiative, Global Voices: Truthdig Women Reporting, in conjunction with the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), to support and promote the work of women journalists from around the world.

Anna Politkovskaya was such a fine journalist, so brave in afflicting the comfortable, that she was shot. Probably by her political enemies, which included her government. She was the 13th journalistic critic of the government to be shot down by contract killers during Putin’s reign. After the first sham trial led to nothing, the Russian Supreme Court ordered a retrial of defendants in the case, a trial that is now under way and in a brief adjournment.

This year’s winners of the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalism Awards are truly remarkable journalists who uphold the highest standards of the profession—and, as they reveal in their speeches, risk paying the highest price for their perseverance and dedication.